1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a winglet.
A winglet generally takes the form of an upturned tip on a wing or other flying surface on an aircraft although the term “winglet” may also embrace an end plate which extends both above and below the upper and lower surfaces at the tip of a wing or other flying surface.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The presence of a winglet serves to increase the efficiency of a wing by reducing drag which would otherwise be induced by wing tip vortices. At the same time, the presence of the winglet increases loading on the wing by virtue of increased lift in the tip region of the wing during flight. The increased lift resulting from the winglet also creates a side force towards the root of the wing which creates an additional bending moment about the root. The consequence of these load increases is that the wing structure has to be made stronger which results in an increase in weight. Therefore whilst increasing efficiency on the one hand, there are, on the other hand, effects which are undesirable and particularly so when the aircraft undergoes high g manoeuvers which is a design load case for some areas of the wing.